Search

Much to my girlfriends happiness I started reading Skip Beat. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but it’s really getting going. Skip Beat is a manga about a girl who runs away to Tokyo to help her selfish angsty guy friend to become a big star.

She gets multiple jobs for rent money for them both, and supports him 100%. The guy eventually does make it pretty big, and he’s a pretty famous star. However, as the girl decides to bring him some surprise snacks one day she over hears that he was only using her. He used her and her hard work to support him while he worked on being famous.

Outraged the girl declares she will have her revenge, she will ruin all he has built. From now on she will try to make it into the entertainment world, and take him down! I’m very excited to see this happen, it’s quite a different set-up from normal romance mangas.

The romance part of it seems to be coming from another big star, the number one actually. The agency the girl decides to join represents him. This relationship is much for the usual shoujo type, a sort of love hate thing going on.

I look forward to reading more, and finding out what she does for her revenge. I’m only 23 chapters in. I recommend it to any shoujo fans. Though I understand it’s well liked already.

The World God Only Know(TWGOK) is one of my favorite mangas. Though it’s an anime now as well. It has great characters, a great story, is well drawn and exciting to read. The manga is about a high School boy, Keima Katsuragi. Keima is a master of dating women. There is no scenario he does not know, and no woman he has set his eyes on yet he could not ensnare into his web….virtual web. He is the master of dating sims, a god of capturing 2D girls. He has no need for the real world, or real girls.

Yet his identity is mistaken, much in the way you were probably fooled by my intro of him. Keima one day opens an email that asks if he is really the god of capturing women, and if he is up for an ultimate challenge. Of course he opens it, and suddenly a cute demon pops out in front of him named Elsie. Elsie explains to him some very confusing stuff. Evil souls have escaped from Hell, she and other demons were sent out to recover them. They need to use a human partner to help them. The souls hide away in human hearts, to force them out they must fill the humans heart with a strong emotion. The demons enlist Keima, the capturing god, to help.

Keima frantically explains he deals with 2D women only, but it’s too late, the contract has been made. If he rescinds he will lose his life. Keima resigns himself to the fact he is stuck like this, and the only way to be free is the capture all the spirits. He must apply his gaming knowledge to the real world, and make countless women fall in love with him to force the spirits out.

The rest of the manga is Keima working with Elsie to woo women into falling deeply in love with him to force the spirit out. Each arc is a new and different woman to capture. Luckily after he succeeds they lose their memories of the capture. Otherwise he would just be seen as some two-timing jerk. Keima is highly intelligent and analytic in everything he does. He is one of my favorite characters in any manga. He always knows what’s what and has a plan.

Elsie is able to tell which girls have spirits inside them, and she acts as support to the conquest. Helping to create the right atmosphere, or transporting him about. She does the actual capturing when the spirit is forced out too. Elsie is pretty dim, she’s a classic girly cute character that is clumsy and moe. Their dynamic works well together.

The Manga is in it’s 179th chapter, and seems to be nearing an end. As the conquests went on a few bigger stories and plots started to form. It’s getting very exciting. I recommend the manga to any romance fans, or comedy fans, or intellectual types. (If anyone wants anymore info or to discuss it in great detail I have a friend who is quite the expert).

Keima and Elsie are in the foreground, the background girls are various conquests.